The Kite Runner

"The first Afghan novel to be written in English, The Kite Runner tells a sweeping story of family, love, and friendship against a backdrop of history that has not been told in fiction before, bringing to mind the large canvases of the Russian writers of the nineteenth century. But just as it is old-fashioned in its narration, it is contemporary in its subject - the devastating history of Afghanistan over the last thirty years."--Penguin Group U.S.A.Traces the unlikely friendship of a wealthy Afghan youth and a servant's son, in a tale that spans the final days of Afghanistan's monarchy through the atrocities of the present day.

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I read this for the "A Sports Related Book" part of my 2019 reading challenge. I gave it a 4 because it's well written and I read it in a day and couldn't put it down, but overall I strongly dislike it and find it really depressing and traumatizing.

A relatively new idea: no freakish time jumps, point of view jumps, or long pseudo-essays. Just a good narrative; a book that tells a story, telling of events in the order in which they occurred. Its refreshing to those who read too much modernist literature. The first third or so of the book was what I found most interesting, and most of the rest was a bit too... not boring... but somehow I was less able to relish the story. There are so many plot developments that saying what I think of the book will give many of them away - and its the main delight to the reader. The author reads the audio version fairly well.

For the most part the story is pretty heartbreaking and heart wrenching

Loyalty, family/bloodlines, pride and redemption play a heavy role throughout the book. What happened that day during the kite running contest helped changed the lives of Hassan and Amir forever. Should Amir have spoken up to someone about what happened or stepped in? Well that is a hard question to answer given that he was also a scared young boy who has never had to step up to the plate before. Maybe he should have but then we would never had seen him attempt to redeem himself for the rest of his life.

While it was an interesting read, there was just too many coincidences to keep the story going

The last section, where Amir travels back to his country to meet with his former mentor, it gets a little too fantastical. Like really he can just waltz into the country like that, run into friendly and helpful people and presume he can just take the kid and leave the country safely?!

This is the heartbreaking story of an unlikely friendship between a wealthy merchant son and the servant’s son. It’s a story of family, love, and friendship told against the devastating backdrop of the history of Afghanistan over the last thirty years. I could easily count this as one of my favorite books.

A beautiful story filled with tugs at the heartstrings. It's a fantastic page-turner with interesting plot-twists that all fall into place and don't confuse this story of friendship, trust, and heartbreak. The Kite Runner teaches powerful lessons and gives a different view of Afghanistan than is seen in the news and a deeper respect for its culture and traditions. Although it is not a happy book, it is absolutely worthy of its highly acclaimed reputation. Definitely recommended.

Love, love, love this book. I am embarrassed I haven't read it before now. Thank you Mr Hosseini for a wonderful story that shines a light on the beautiful people of Afghanistan. Thank you for teaching me about the modern history of this region through engaging, flawed and everyday characters and their relationships.

"For you a thousand times over!" he said. Then he smiled his Hassan smile and disappeared around the corner. The next time I saw him smile unabashedly like that was twenty-six years later, in a faded Polaroid photograph.

“She said, 'I'm so afraid.' And I said, 'why?,' and she said, 'Because I'm so profoundly happy, Dr. Rasul. Happiness like this is frightening.' I asked her why and she said, 'They only let you be this happy if they're preparing to take something from you."

Then I realized something: that thought had brought no sting with it. Closing Sohrab's door, I wondered if that was how forgiveness budded, not with the fanfare of epiphany, but with pain gathering its things, packing up, and slipping away unannounced in the middle of the night. [313]

Summary

When Amir and Hassan were young boys, Amir witnessed something horrible and did not step in to stop it. This causes him horrible guilt and ruins the friendship he had with Hassan. Years later, he has a chance to redeem himself, by returning to Afghanistan. But her realizes that this country is not the one he remembers from his childhood.

Two boys grow up together in Afghanistan. Amir is the son of a wealthy man, and Hassan is the son of their Hazara servant. Although the boys are initially inseparable, when Amir fails his unswervingly loyal friend, their friendship falls apart. This book follows Amir's life in the aftermath of this failure, during his quest "to be good again".